 
          1178
        
        
          Proceedings of the 18
        
        
          th
        
        
          International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Paris 2013
        
        
          6     ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
        
        
          The authors thank Brazilian National Research Council
        
        
          (CNPq) for the financial support that made possible this
        
        
          research. They also thank CAPES for the MSc. scholarship
        
        
          granted to the W. N. Sterck  and PIBIC/UENF for the
        
        
          scholarship granted to the A. B. Ribeiro.
        
        
          7     REFERENCES
        
        
          Briggs, L. J., and McLane, J. W., 1907, “The moisture equivalent of
        
        
          soils.”
        
        
          
            U.S. Bur. Soils Bull.
          
        
        
          , 45, 23.
        
        
          FIG 4.  Comparison between SWRC from conventional methods fitted
        
        
          by the Mualem-van Genuchten  model and the small-scale centrifuge
        
        
          method data for remolded young horizon (RY).
        
        
          Corey, A.T., 1977, “Mechanics of heterogeneous fluids in porous
        
        
          media.”
        
        
          
            Water    Resources Pubication,
          
        
        
          Littleton, Colo.
        
        
          Croney, D., Coleman, J.D., and Bridge, P.M., 1952, “The suction of
        
        
          moisture held in soil and other porous materials”,
        
        
          
            Department of
          
        
        
          
            Scientific and Industrial Research, Road Research Technical
          
        
        
          Paper
        
        
          No. 24. H.M. Stationery Office, London.
        
        
          Gardner, R. ,1937, “The method of measuring the capillary pressures in
        
        
          small core samples.”
        
        
          
            Soil Sci.
          
        
        
          , 43, 277–283.
        
        
          Hassler, G.L., and Brunner, E. ,1945, “Measurement of capillary
        
        
          pressures in small core samples.”
        
        
          
            Transactions of the American
          
        
        
          
            Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers,
          
        
        
          160: 114–123.
        
        
          Khanzode, R.M., Vanapalli, S.K., and Fredlund, D.G., 2002,
        
        
          “Measurement of soil-water characteristic curves for fine-grained
        
        
          soils using a small-scale centrifuge.”
        
        
          
            Canadian Geotechnical
          
        
        
          
            Journal
          
        
        
          , Vol. 9, 2002.
        
        
          Russell, M.B., and Richards L.A., 1938, “The determination of soil
        
        
          moisture energy relations by centrifugation.”
        
        
          
            Soil Science Society of
          
        
        
          
            America Proceedings,
          
        
        
          3: 65–69.
        
        
          Stephens, D.B.,1996, “Vadose zone hydrology.”
        
        
          
            CRC Press, Lewis
          
        
        
          
            Publishing,
          
        
        
          New York.
        
        
          FIG 5 - Comparison between SWRC from conventional methods fitted
        
        
          by the Mualem-van Genuchten  model and the small-scale centrifuge
        
        
          method data for undisturbed young horizon (UY).
        
        
          Van Genuchten, M.T., 1980,  “A closed form equation for predicting the
        
        
          hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils.”
        
        
          
            Soil Science Society of
          
        
        
          
            America Journal
          
        
        
          , 44: 892–898.
        
        
          5     CONCLUSIONS
        
        
          From the research program involving evaluation of the SWRC
        
        
          of undisturbed and remolded specimens of a young residual soil
        
        
          from gneiss conducted it can be concluded that:
        
        
          
        
        
          The SWRC determined using the proposed
        
        
          methodology agreed well with the experimental data
        
        
          obtained using conventional methods such as paper
        
        
          filter method, suction plate extractor and porous plate
        
        
          funnel indicating the excellent potential use of the
        
        
          methodology for SWRC determination for studied
        
        
          soils in a reduced time-frame.
        
        
          
        
        
          The centrifuge methodology was able of determining
        
        
          the SWRC with good accuracy up to suction
        
        
          magnitudes of the order of 900 kPa.